Cardiff City v Brighton & Hove Albion: Likely line-ups for Premier League clash

After a flawless October, the Seagulls were brought back down to earth last weekend at Everton as they left Merseyside empty handed after a 3-1 defeat to the Toffees.

Goodison Park was always going to be tough to take any points away from the game, however Chris Hughton will be hoping to pick his players up from the loss quickly heading into a favourable stretch of games in the top flight.

While their performances on the road this season have been a mixed bag, they head to the Welsh capital this weekend confident they can get a result against a Bluebirds side who have a lot of work to do to drag themselves away from danger.

Of all the teams who came up from the Championship, Cardiff came in with the least expectations and arguably the most amount of pundits predicting them to drop straight back into the second tier of English football.

While Wolves and Fulham both spent heavily on new signings, Cardiff brought in six new additions to the squad, with Neil Warnock putting his faith in most of the side that secured them automatic promotion last season.

It’s been as difficult a start to life back in the top flight as expected for Warnock, who takes charge of his 100th game as Bluebirds boss against Albion. The 69-year old suggested earlier this week that his job with the Bluebirds could be his final managerial role after almost 40 years working in dugouts up and down the country.

Cardiff sit in the bottom three on five points after their opening 11 games, with only Fulham’s inferior goal difference keeping them off the bottom of the division. Their only bright spot of the campaign so far was against the Cottagers last month as they secured a 4-2 win over their relegation rivals.

The Seagulls have lost only one of their last ten meetings with the Bluebirds, with a goal from Tomer Hemed sealing a 1-0 win for the Brighton in their last clash at the Amex back in January 2017.

CARDIFF

On-loan Bournemouth midfielder Harry Arter misses out for the Bluebirds as he serves a one-match ban.

Cardiff boss Neil Warnock says midfielder Joe Ralls, who has been out through injury and suspension, will be in the squad as he has 'just 17 or 18 fit players'.

Striker Kenneth Zohore and Jazz Richards have both been ruled out, while Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Lee Peltier are longer-term injuries for the Bluebirds.

Likely line-up: Etheridge; Ecuele Manga, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett; Camarasa, Gunnarsson, Ralls, Murphy; Reid, Paterson. Subs from: Ward, Smithies, Cunningham, Damour, K.Harris, Madine, Hoilett.

BRIGHTON

Albion boss Chris Hughton looks set to make at least one change after naming the same starting line-up for the previous three Premier League matches.

Iranian winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh is expected to miss out with the slight hamstring strain he sustained late in last week's 3-1 defeat at Everton. Anthony Knockaert is likely to take his place on the right wing.

Davy Propper and Pascal Gross are again ruled out through injury but Hughton hopes both could be back in contention after the international break.

Likely line-up: Ryan; Bruno, Duffy, Dunk, Bong; Knockaert, Stephens, Kayal, Izquierdo; March; Murray. Subs (from): Steele, Bernardo, Balogun, Bissouma, Andone, Locadia, Jahanbakhsh, Montoya, Suttner.

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